LA Agartha, Ktonian Dead

Lore

"Agartha is inspired by fantasy RPG's in general, and an Earth Dawn setting of my brother's imagination, ripe with mummified ancestors entombed in ancient cavern halls, in particular. Old ideas of a race of pale, cave-dwelling humanoids from my ideas of the game “Shepherds of Creation” completed the conglomerate. Think of opulent halls adorned with riches of the deeper earth in which reside ancient bloated oracles with pallid skins ruling their kin with increasing desperation; desperation because their proud race is dying. Agartha is perhaps the most tragic of the nations in Dominions. Surviving oracles cling to memories of a glorious past unable to stop the unavoidable disappearance of their ancient race. I wanted a sense of loss to permeate the nation. " -Illwinter

In dark caverns under the Roots of the Earth a strange kind of one-eyed humanoids once evolved. Untouched by the sun, they became known to humans as the Pale Ones. When humans first met these pale giants, it was in war. With the destruction of the false god of the Pale Ones, an ancient Seal was broken and vast powers of destruction were released. The Pale Ones were almost wiped out of existence and humans could move down into the caverns of Agartha. Here they found fabulous riches and ancient secrets. The humans replaced the Pale Ones and now all Agarthans are pale-skinned humans with large eyes. Everything left by the Ancients became subject to worship in Agartha. At first, statues of the Ancients were adored and animated by the Golem Crafters, but most of the statues were destroyed during the great war and new forms of worship have evolved. The mummified remains of the now-extinct Pale Ones are worshipped and reanimated by necromancer-priests. While the mummies of Pale Ones are sacred, the human dead are not treated with the same respect. Used for menial tasks and warfare, the dead of Agartha now walk side by side with the living.

General Overview

How the nation plays and what it is good at should go here, aka why would it be cool to play, whats good about it (in general terms) and where they falter possibily there could be a standard for nation classification (sacred heavy, elves, communion nation, blood nation, research, economical, forging, stealth, thug based etc)

National Features

Special Race Attributes	Military	Magic Access	Priests	Buildings
Humans: Darkvision (50%)	- Med. & Hvy. Infantry - Drake Cavalry - Undead Summons	3 (rare 4) 3 (rare 4) 2 (rare 3) 2 1 (uncommon, rare 2)	Average (2) Summons: 3 Reanimator Priest (requires 32)	Standard Forts (Citadel) Cave Forts provide extra Gold and Resources (10%) and additional Entrance Guard Province Defense (1 per point)

National Units

Commanders

Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
Agarthan Scout 25 4 1	Darkvision 50% Stealthy(50) Mountain Survival Forest Survival	Pretty much an indy scout. Not worth a fort turn if it isn't utterly necessary.
Cave Captain 70 22 1	Darkvision 50%	80 leadership so he gives formations. Slightly faster on the strategic map than the other non-mage commanders. Still slower than an Agarthan Light Crossbowman (12 vs 14).
Gate Lord 110 37 2	Darkvision 50% castle defence bonus(10)	Tied with the Drake Lord as Agartha's best leader. Slows down enemy sieges so that Agartha's slow armies can get there to help.
Drake Lord 120 35 2	Darkvision 50% mounted dying Shape(Cave Drake)	Don't let the mount fool you: he can still only move 1 province at a time unless there are roads involved. He is slightly more dangerous and survivable in combat thanks to the cave drake helping in defense, but also the most expensive troop leader in upkeep.
Attendant of the Dead 100 1 2	111 9 sacred Darkvision 50%	Cheapest mage/priest. Can summon various national units (some requiring boosters), such as Penumbrals, Umbrals and Sepulchrals which don't scale with the level of the summoner. The most efficient, albeit slow researcher. Great for holding Lightless Lanterns. Cheapest way to lead 30 undead and/or 5 Blindfighters, or more if with a bless for increasing undead/magic leadership, but there are other options for both types of leaders.
Ktonian Reanimator 135 1 2	12 11 Darkvision 50% Resource Bonus(10) Summon in battle(Soulless)	Useful mage for your forts, allowing more and more heavy troops at the cost of research efficiency compared to other mages. 10 resources is not much but every Reanimator can turn one Agarthan Heavy Infantry into an Entrance Guard or a Blindfighter per turn. Can spam Horde of Skeletons. Offensively, he can lead the most undead, having an innate bonus to it.
Ktonian Alchemist 135 1 2	1111100% 13 Darkvision 50% Alchemist(50)	The fastest researcher with a ton of magic diversity, including the only crosspaths with water. Fire and Earth randoms can use alteration rituals to make the most gold, although Agartha has a lot of uses for earth gems and even two national fire spells.
Blindlord 140 37 1	sacred blind magic-being spirit-sight	Required to put Blindfighters in formations. Does not give the best morale bonus but can lead 40 Blindfighters and 80 normal troops at the same time. Sacred status makes them equal in upkeep to Cave Captains.
Servant of the Oracles 185 1 2	1121100% 11 sacred Darkvision 50%	Better priest than the Ktonian Necromancer. Astral randoms add +10 magic leadership, so they are the best mages for leading Blindfighters. Not horribly inefficient at researching thanks to their sacred upkeep. Depending on their random path, they can fill similar roles as any of Agartha's cheaper mages and form small communions. They are also decent leaders, meaning that an army of normal troops, Blindfighters and undead could be led by only Servants of the Oracles.
Ktonian Necromancer 295 1 4 Capital Only	12211100% 10% 17 sacred Darkvision 50%	Best mage for big rituals and items. Your only (national) access to astral/fire in one mage. All of them can do a variety of useful earth and death magic. Decent leaders too. Can cast Twiceborn and potentially climb up to 4.

Units

Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
Agarthan Light Infantry 10 10 9	Darkvision 50%	Cheap and lightly geared indies in disguise. Good if you need mass to your armies or during expansion. With map move 12, they can cross 2 plains in one turn. They share this trait with the Agarthan Crossbowman (light and medium) and the Agarthan Sapper, making them the only mobile units when there is no difficult terrain involved.
Agarthan Infantry 10 22 9	Darkvision 50%	Gold cheap and well geared indy troops in disguise. Unexceptional but reliable.
Agarthan Heavy Infantry 10 27 9	Darkvision 50%	Not much different from the medium Agarthan Infantry just with slightly heavier armor. Particularly vulnerable to fatigue plays but also particularly durable when given fooskin and/or legions of steel.
Agarthan Light Crossbowman 10 11 9	Darkvision 50%	Agarthan Crossbowmen come in three different varieties. The only difference is their armour and the effect it has on their map move, defense skill, encumbrance and combat speed. Their crossbows have +2 damage compared to regular crossbows. This is offset by the poor precision of Agarthans, although they won't be as affected by darkness. The light variant is the easiest to amass and fastest on the map, maybe even too fast since Cave Captains can't keep up. The heavy variant is most likely to win ranged duels, especially against basic bows.
Agarthan Crossbowman 10 19 9	Darkvision 50%
Agarthan Heavy Crossbowman 10 27 9	Darkvision 50%
Entrance Guard 16 37 23	Darkvision 50% Castle Defence Bonus(2)	An expensive upgrade to Agarthan infantry, especially on recruitment points. Comes with increased basic stats, notably 40% more hit points which has a big impact when wearing full plate mail. Castle Defense Bonus is situationally nice but may not make a difference with how slow they are to amass.
Blindfighter 26 37 31	Sacred Blind Magic-Being Spirit-Sight	A sacred unit not limited to the capital. Very similar to Entrance Guard but comes with some increased stats. Functions as normal in darkness and has a better helmet because who needs eye slits? Although Agartha no longer gets increased bless points in this age, their easy availability makes a big Bless tempting. Agartha also has two sacred summons and sacred mages to consider. As magic beings, not everyone can lead them and they are vulnerable to unique counters as the game goes on. Their magic resistance is at least decent and can be buffed.
Cave Knight 80 35 46	Darkvision 50% mounted Wounded Shape(Cave Drake)	Slow cavalry that leaves behind a tough drake upon death. It stays after the battle, although the drakes still cost upkeep (unlike the summoned version) and are undisciplined. 22 protection is tough to get through for conventional troops.
Agarthan Sapper 20 18 31	Darkvision 50% Siege Bonus(7)	Good siegers and come with one armor piercing AoE grenade per battle. Hard hitters in melee but the least durable out of all of Agartha's infantry.

Heroes

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Eckhart von Kohlbrunn - Master of Alchemical Secrets	222111 31 sacred Darkvision 50% Alchemist(100) Insane(10%) resist poison(5) Old Age(165/146) Summons in battle:(Living Mercury)	Gives a new crosspath in Water/Astral. Can fairly easily climb up to build the Fire/Water version of the Staff of Elemental Mastery. Alternatively a Ktonian Alchemist can get empowered once in water or fire if Eckhart doesn't show up.

Magic

Magic Access

What magic path/mages define your nation, what can you level, e.g. thunderstriking, astral, elementals, earth buffs, blood, what is recruitable anywhere and good, what are some summons you are likely able to get and are useable

Earth (max 3, rarely 4)
Death (max 3, rarely 4)
Fire (max 2, rarely 3)
Water (max 2)
Astral (max 1, rarely 2)

National Spells & Summons

Summon Penumbrals Conj 3, 11, 6. (Penumbral x4)
Awaken Shard Wights Conj 3, 11, 15. (Shard Wight x5+[1/2 Lv])
Summon Umbrals Conj 5, 21, 8. (Umbral x4)
Awaken Sepulchral Conj 5, 21, 4. (Sepulchral)
Awaken Tomb Oracle Conj 6, 32, 30. (Tomb Oracle)
Hall of the Dead Conj 8, 51, 25. (Shard Wight x20+[4/Lv])

Iron Marionettes Alt 5, 3, 1.

Iron Corpse Reanimation Enchament 2, 11, 2. (Iron Corpsex5+[1/2 Lv])
Reanimate Ancestor Enchament 2, 22, 3. (Iron Ancestorx1)
Flame Corpse Construction Enchament 4, 11, 1. (Flame Corpsex1)
Nightmare Construction Enchament 5, 11, 2. (Flame Barrel Nightmarex1)
Ktonian Legion Enchament 6, 22, 15. (Iron Corpsex30+[5/Lv])

Notable Generic Magic

Discuss the top few generic spells that most increase a nation's combat power or synergize with national strategies. These will generally be early-to-mid game spells since individual spells matter much more during those periods of the game. Some examples are Foul Vapors for MA C'tis, Horde of Skeletons + Sabbath Master/Sabbath Slave for the Niefelheim line of nations, Mother Oak for the Pangaeas, Wailing Winds access, etc. For broader advice on magic use, link to Not-Lola's Basic Magic Use Guide.

Magic Items

List and describe any unique national items or discounts in this section, discuss and compare with similar generic items. Also discuss generic items that are useful and accessible for the nation. These may include:

Thug gear (if the nation has good thugs)
Research boosters (particularly if the nation needs help researching or is already very good at researching)
Other items that synergize with the nation (e.g. Dwarven Hammers for MA Ulm)

National Items

Mercury Barrel: Construction 6 11 (every Ktonian Alchemist). 55. Replaces the summoning ritual of a Living Mercury from previous eras. Gives a free Living Mercury every battle. Like a Water Elemental except that it is stronger, tougher and has a poison cloud. Can beef up an army, especially underwater. More worthwhile than Bottle of Living Water for using on a battlefield unless it accidentally kills friendlies. Agartha has no national access to nature magic for resisting poison, but undead don't care about poison.

Strategy

Power Curve

This is probably the most difficult section to get consensus for. Describe how strong the nation is during expansion, the early, mid and late game, and what makes it strong/weak at each of those points. This should give readers an idea of where the weaknesses of a nation lie (if they have not been shown already) and when to take advantage of a nation's strengths.

Expansion Strategies

List some example expansion strategies here. If a strong bless or pretender is required then leave the specifics for the pretender section.

Example Pretender Builds

List some example pretender builds. Try to use the following format to keep authorship and pretender design rationale clear.

See More

youtube of someone discussing the nation
guide page on steam??
forum thread or AAR

Nations
Early Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • Rus • Kailasa • Lanka • Yomi • Hinnom • Ur • Berytos • Xibalba • Mekone • Ubar • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Therodos
Middle Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Sceleria • Pythium • Man • Eriu • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Asphodel • Vanheim • Jotunheim • Vanarus • Bandar Log • Shinuyama • Ashdod • Uruk • Nazca • Xibalba • Phlegra • Phaeacia • Ind • Na'ba • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Ys
Late Ages	Arcoscephale • Pythium • Lemuria • Man • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Jomon • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Midgård • Utgård • Bogarus • Patala • Gath • Ragha • Xibalba • Phlegra • Vaettiheim • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia